Redback & Brown Widow spiders

Genus Latrodectus, family Theridiidae

Small black to dark brown spiders with a pea-shaped body usually with a red, yellow or orange hour-glass mark under the body.

These spiders are very comfortable with man and have introduced themselves from Western and South Australia to the east coast and centre. Redbacks now occur in Osaka, Japan, New Caledonia, as well as New Zealand and possibly parts of Europe. A number of similar species occur through parts of south-east Asia, India and into the Middle East; like our Redback, most have a red stripe.